The evidence from Portugal since 2001 is that decriminalisation of druguse and possession has benefits and no harmful side-effects

IN 2001 newspapers around the world carried graphic reports of addictsinjecting heroin in the grimy streets of a Lisbon slum. The place wasdubbed Europe's "most shameful neighbourhood" and its "worst drugsghetto". The TIMES helpfully managed to find a young British backpackersprawled comatose on a corner. This lurid coverage was prompted by agovernment decision to decriminalise the personal use and possession ofall drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The police were told not toarrest anyone found taking any kind of drug.

This "ultraliberal legislation", said the foreign media, had set alarmbells ringing across Europe. The Portuguese were said to be fearfulthat holiday resorts would become dumping-grounds for drug tourists.Some conservative politicians denounced the decriminalisation as "purelunacy". Plane-loads of foreign students would head for the Algarve tosmoke marijuana, predicted Paulo Portas, leader of the People's Party.Portugal, he said, was offering "sun, beaches and any drug you like."

Yet after all the furore, the drug law was largely forgotten by theinternational and Portuguese press--until earlier this year, when theCato Institute, a libertarian American think-tank, published a study ofthe new policy by a lawyer, Glenn Greenwald.*[1] In contrast to thedire consequences that critics predicted, he concluded that "none ofthe nightmare scenarios" initially painted, "from rampant increases indrug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a havenfor 'drug tourists', has occurred."

Mr Greenwald claims that the data show that "decriminalisation has hadno adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal", which "in numerouscategories are now among the lowest in the European Union". This cameafter some rises in the 1990s, before decriminalisation. The figuresreveal little evidence of drug tourism: 95% of those cited for drugmisdemeanours since 2001 have been Portuguese. The level of drugtrafficking, measured by numbers convicted, has also declined. And theincidence of other drug-related problems, including sexuallytransmitted diseases and deaths from drug overdoses, has "decreaseddramatically".

There are widespread misconceptions about the Portuguese approach. "Itis important not to confuse decriminalisation with depenalisation orlegalisation," comments Brendan Hughes of the European MonitoringCentre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, which is, coincidentally, based inLisbon. "Drug use remains illegal in Portugal, and anyone in possessionwill be stopped by the police, have the drugs confiscated and be sentbefore a commission."

Nor is it uncommon in Europe to make drug use an administrativeoffence rather than a criminal one (putting it in the same category asnot wearing a seat belt, say). What is unique, according to Mr Hughes,is that offenders in Portugal are sent to specialist "dissuasioncommissions" run by the government, rather than into the judicialsystem. "In Portugal," he says, "the health aspect [of the government'sresponse to drugs] has gone mainstream."

The aim of the dissuasion commissions, which are made up of panels oftwo or three psychiatrists, social workers and legal advisers, is toencourage addicts to undergo treatment and to stop recreational usersfalling into addiction. They have the power to impose community workand even fines, but punishment is not their main aim. The police turnsome 7,500 people a year over to the commissions. But nobody carryinganything considered to be less than a ten-day personal supply of drugscan be arrested, sentenced to jail or given a criminal record.

Officials believe that, by lifting fears of prosecution, the policy hasencouraged addicts to seek treatment. This bears out their view thatcriminal sanctions are not the best answer. "Before decriminalisation,addicts were afraid to seek treatment because they feared they would bedenounced to the police and arrested," says Manuel Cardoso, deputydirector of the Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Portugal's maindrugs-prevention and drugs-policy agency. "Now they know they will betreated as patients with a problem and not stigmatised as criminals."

The number of addicts registered in drug-substitution programmes hasrisen from 6,000 in 1999 to over 24,000 in 2008, reflecting a big risein treatment (but not in drug use). Between 2001 and 2007 the number ofPortuguese who say they have taken heroin at least once in their livesincreased from just 1% to 1.1%. For most other drugs, the figures havefallen: Portugal has one of Europe's lowest lifetime usage rates forcannabis. And most notably, heroin and other drug abuse has decreasedamong vulnerable younger age-groups, according to Mr Cardoso.

The share of heroin users who inject the drug has also fallen, from 45%before decriminalisation to 17% now, he says, because the new law hasfacilitated treatment and harm-reduction programmes. Drug addicts nowaccount for only 20% of Portugal's HIV cases, down from 56% before. "Weno longer have to work under the paradox that exists in many countriesof providing support and medical care to people the law considerscriminals."

"Proving a causal link between Portugal's decriminalisation measuresand any changes in drug-use patterns is virtually impossible inscientific terms," concludes Mr Hughes. "But anyone looking at thestatistics can see that drug consumption in 2001 was relatively low inEuropean terms, and that it remains so. The apocalypse hasn't happened."